Promoting smart TV by commodification of women?

Samsung Smart TV Commercial:

       This advertisement from Samsung (2013) showed women as an object of desire and women being flirtatious to men. The scenes (except for the last part) give the viewers a different idea about the content of the video.

        Also, the last part where they showed an old man crossing the street is a disrespect to the elderly because although it is not explicit, it suggests that he will to also go to the woman's condominium unit.

        Women are not to be presented in anyway, as objects of desire. The concept is also not suitable for a technology commercial. The commercial must be edited to give respect to women and to suit the image that Samsung has.

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Maagang pangangampanya?

Malayo pa ang eleksyon pero ngayon pa lang ay mayroon nang mga patalastas  ng iba't ibang pulitiko ang nagsisilabasan. Kung titingin tayo sa paligid lalo na sa mga tabi ng kalsada at mga poste sa kalye, mapapansin natin na dumarami ang bilang ng mga karatulang may malalaking larawan at pangalan ng mga pulitiko.

Sa isang araw, ilang beses kong napanood sa TV ang patalastas kung saan pinapakita ang Pangalawang Pangulong si Jejomar Binay na tumutulong sa pagbibigay ng bahay para umano magkaroon ng magandang buhay ang mga Pilipino. Ito ay may mensaheng “VP Binay Pabahay para sa magandang buhay.”

Si Binay ay isa nga sa mga napapabalitang tatakbong Pangulo sa halalan sa 2016. Ayon sa survey, bumababa ang porsyento ng mga taong may gusto sa kanya dahil sa samu't saring isyu na bumabatikos sa kanya. Alam naman natin ang mga kontrobersiyang kinakaharap niya ngayon at hanggang ngayon ay iniimbestigahan pa rin siya dahil sa kanya umanong tagong yaman at ari-arian sa Rosario, Batangas at ang maanumalyang presyo ng gusali sa Makati.

Para sa akin, masyado pang maaga ang kanyang ginagawang pangangampanya (kung maaari man itong tawaging pangangampanya). Kahit hindi man direkta ang pagsabi ng kanilang pangangampanya sa mga patalastas na ito ay parang ganun din ang mensahe na nakikita kong nais iparating. Sa pamamagitan ng mga ito, kahit papaano ay napapabango nila ang kanilang mga pangalan sa kabila ng mga isyung kinakaharap niya. Para kahit papaano ay makuha niya ang loob at boto ng mga tao. Kung may mensahe man na nais iparating ang kanilang ahensya na kinabibilangan, mas maganda kung iiwasan na lang sana nila ang paglabas sa mga patalastas na ito. Ang nangyayari kasi, imbes na mag-focus yung patalastas tungkol sa kanilang proyekto, mas maraming naipapalabas tungkol kay Binay na matuturing nating pamumulitika.

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(Editor's note: The subject is Communication Ethics. To the blogger, it would have been better if you were able to contextualize politicians as some sort of communicators or at least, the agencies that produce their "early campaign ads.")

Ang 'Ten Kumainments'

       Noong Oktubre, inilunsad ng Department of Health - National Nutrition Council ang kanilang patalastas na "Ten Kumainments." Ito ay para sa kanilang kampanya sa pagtaguyod ng tamang nutrisyon at tamang pag-aalaga sa kalusugan ng mga Pilipino. Sa patalastas, ipinakita ang pag-abot ni Mang Moi sa mga tao ng dalawang malaking tinapay kung saan nakasulat ang Ten Kumainments.

Para sa akin, maganda naman ang mensahe ng kanilang kampanya dahil kahit papaano ay nakakapagbigay sila ng ilang mga paalala tungkol sa pagbibigay halaga sa kalusugan ng mga tao. Sa pagpapalabas ng kampanyang ito ay nakatanggap sila ng mga magandang reaksyon galing sa maraming tao. Ngunit may mga ilang tao pa rin na nagsasabing may mali ang panggamit nila isang maka-Diyos na paniniwala.

Iba't ibang negatibong reaksyon ang natanggap nito. Sabi ng ilan, hindi raw nito nirerespeto ang paniniwala ng mga Katoliko. May nagkumento rin sa isang post sa Facebook na parang pinapalitan na raw nito yung totoong sampung utos. May mga nagsabi rin na huwag dapat natin biruin ang salita ng Diyos dahil ito ay sagrado. Hindi raw ito magandang gamitin para sa kung ano man na wala namang kinalaman sa ispirituwal na mga usapin.

Hindi naman sa sinasabi kong nabastos nito ang totoong Ten Commandments. Naiintindihan ko naman na nais lang paalalahanan ng DOH ang mga tao sa magandang paraan at hindi nila sinasadyang magkaroon tayo ng ibang ideya sa paggamit nila ng konseptong iyon. Sa tingin ko, wala naman talaga itong sinabi na kahit anong masama tungkol doon. Pero sana, ang ginawa na lang dapat ng DOH ay mag-isip ng ibang konsepto dahil marami pa namang ibang ideya na pwede nilang gamitin kung saan hindi na nila kakailanganing gumamit ng isang konseptong panrelihiyon.


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Rolling Stone on its lapse in judgment

On November 19, 2014, Rolling Stone published a story titled “A Rape on Campus”, which describes in detail the alleged gang rape of a college first year student at a fraternity party in the University of Virginia (UVA). A month later, Rolling Stone has added a note before the article, which in part says:

“In the face of new information reported by the Washington Post and other news outlets, there now appear to be discrepancies in (the victim)'s account.”

"We published the article with the firm belief that it was accurate. Given all of these reports, however, we have come to the conclusion that we were mistaken in honoring Jackie's request to not contact the alleged assaulters to get their account. In trying to be sensitive to the unfair shame and humiliation many women feel after a sexual assault, we made a judgment – the kind of judgment reporters and editors make every day. We should have not made this agreement with Jackie and we should have worked harder to convince her that the truth would have been better served by getting the other side of the story. These mistakes are on Rolling Stone, not on (the victim). We apologize to anyone who was affected by the story and we will continue to investigate the events of that evening."

The article published on the Rolling Stone website, which has captured America's attention, has urged the UVA and the Obama administration into investigating the matter. The victim is now a junior and only now is her story being aired in public because of fear of reprisal and isolation.

  

I see no reason for a woman of any identity to lie about her gruesome rape. Considering that she was being raped by seven men at the time, I'm surprised the victim remembers anything at all. Rolling Stone's recent note to its readers paint the victim as someone with “discrepancies” regarding her own rape. This is not fair to her, she who came and told her story in good faith. The victim blames herself for her rape, as if it was her fault that a pack of degeneratives like to get off on violence and bloody women.

"Everything bad in my life now is built around that one bad decision that I made," she says. "All because I went to that stupid party."

The magazine's statement, however, does not only discredit the victim but the magazine as well. Though the writer did a good job of bringing the details of sexual violence in university campuses into the limelight, she failed to interview other stakeholders, particularly the alleged perpetuators, only relying on one woman's account of a very sensitive and rampant issue. A statement from the magazine is necessary, considering the writer's lapse in judgment, but it is incredibly insensitive to accuse a rape victim of lying, a woman who kept her mouth shut for two years because of apathy.

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Goin' Bulilit jokes, too mature for kids?

        The media gives information that is needed in our daily lives. Weather reports and news programs are several examples of media as source of information to the public. On the other hand, entertainment is also one reason why people resort to watching television programs and engaged themselves to the social media like Facebook, Twitter and others. Hence, comedy actors and actresses become influential in our society. Filipinos of any age could relate to any program that deals with jokes and even criticisms about the government done in a subtle way.

            Among the TV programs that showcase entertainment themes, Goin’ Bulilit is the most interesting for me to analyse. The actors and actresses of this show belong to the younger generation. They may be young at age but their portrayals and dialogues in the show are not suitable to their understanding as children. I believe that the production has used their innocence to convey the agendas and concerns of the older ones in a more effective and subtle way of giving criticisms to current issues.

            As I was watching one of the episodes of Goin’ Bulilit, one of the skits was all about the issue of Daniel Padilla’s audio clip scandal. The dialogue of the child actors and actresses was really criticizing Daniel Padilla. In my opinion, these children do not have the interest and concern about this issue and even the other topics that they discussed through other skits.

            Themes and scripts of TV programs like Goin’ Bulilit must be reviewed by the management and authorities concerned. A child perception might change in a way that is not beneficial to his character development if the TV programs would continue to involve the children in discussing topics that are not really in the field of their concern.

            As communication practitioners in the future, we all have to be responsible and accountable to our duties in conveying messages to the public in any age bracket.

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Why wear undergarments to promote an alcohol brand?

            In our society today, mass media in all its forms dominates people’s daily concerns in life. We cannot deny the fact that the public is precisely preoccupied by what the media dictates to be trending as they say. Through the power that the media has in all its form like the commercials in televisions, the messages that it conveys to the public could possibly be of a great influence to one’s perceptions. Unfortunately, not all the messages that the media could give to the public are truly beneficial to one’s progress.

            As I was watching the television, a commercial promoting an ethyl alcohol caught my attention. The commercial model of this TV commercial was Sam Pinto. At present, this TV personality catches the attention of many Filipinos especially the men. She seems to be a trophy to any bachelor who fantasizes a woman who possesses the beauty that the media has defined through the years. The commercial shows Sam Pinto as she projects herself in a seductive way. She was wearing only undergarments. At first, I have really no idea to what the commercial was all about. I thought it was something like a sanitary napkin or anything that a woman needs for her really personal needs like feminine wash. But then it was all about promoting an ethyl alcohol for women.

In my perspective, the essence of being a woman in the commercial was sensationalized as Sam Pinto was used to represent them in that TV advertisement. It was not really needed for her to wear undergarments that reveal parts of her body just to promote an alcohol brand. We all know that the audiences of televisions come from different ages. The way that the commercial was presented could be better if it was sensitive to its younger audience. It may have a target market but they should have been more careful with the way that their commercial would be interpreted by the public. On the other hand, the content should still be screened by the authority handling these TV commercials. The Filipino audience can easily access the Internet and the televisions which are forms of the mass media. Through this, media people must have their own duty to filter and organize anything that people may get from the media. 

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How to air a fake news?

Alleged Rape?

            I stumbled upon a video clip of a rape case and I thought it was a simple rape case but when I played the video, it was stated that a woman allegedly raped her boyfriend twelve times. This was posted on June 27, 2014 by ABS CBN and was aired on Bandila.

           First things first, the way the news anchor Karen Davila introduced the news.

She said: “Kumakalat ngayon sa social media ang larawan ng isang babae na taga-Bontoc, Mountain Province umano. Sabi sa post, ilang beses pwinersa ng babae ang boyfriend na makipagsex sa kanya.”

            The news was on Bandila and the program airs late at night but nevertheless, the word sex seems inappropriate on Philippine TV given the contemporary sensitivity of Filipinos.

            Another thing is the news item itself. It was aired even though the news was a complete hokum. It was only spread online by some people and labeled an Igorot woman raped her boyfriend. Naturally, the elders of the community and the mayor of the area reacted. The elders were even interviewed and they said they teach Igorot women to be modest and not mingle with boys so this particular story is actually very offensive to them.

            To avoid these kinds of presumptions, the anchor could have already said in the introduction that the story is not true before going into detailed reporting and offend some people.

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(Editor's note: The actual canned report is properly contextualized. However, as the blogger pointed out, the lead-in or intro of the report would have been better if the context was already clear -- that it was a fake news.)